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Paul Ryan discusses "Expanding Opportunity in America"

By Fox News Insider

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) unveiled his new economic plan called, “Expanding Opportunity in America,” tonight on On The Record.

The House Budget Committee chairman told Greta Van Susteren said his goal is to change the conversation and empower local communities in order to ignite real reform.

“Instead of measuring success by how many new programs are created in Washington or how much money we spend on programs, why don’t we measure by results, by outcomes,” he said. “How many people are actually getting out of poverty?”

Ryan referenced the 1996 welfare reform which entailed work requirements, time limits, local control and experimentation in states.

He said, “There are 92 other programs that have not been reformed like that and what we’re trying to do is take those lessons we’ve learned successfully from welfare reform in 1996 and apply it to the other parts of the government’s war on poverty, because we’re in the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty and we’re not winning it.”

Calling for transparency, Ryan proposed that an independent third-party measure the government's success.

Van Susteren pointed out to the congressman that the Democratic Party will accuse his proposal of being a new code word for block grants.

“I’m used to getting partisan labels,” Ryan responded. “That comes with the territory of breaking up the status quo, with offering different and new ideas. That’s fine. Let’s get to a conversation of what’s your better idea."

Ryan charged that America's welfare programs trap people, and added that we should focus on helping people out of poverty by way of a career, not just a job.

“Everybody has a different situation in poverty. It’s not just some monolithic problem where everybody’s the same. People have different needs, people have different problems and so our solutions ought to customize that,” he said.

Watch the interview above to hear more about Rep. Paul Ryan’s economic plan.